Category: Yoga

  • Sweating in Yoga: Can I Overcome Excessive Sweating?

    As I posted, I’m doing yoga as the only male in the yoga class. I’m sweating profusely. So, a towel is a must to wipe my sweat. But women in the class are barely glistening.

    I do weight training two days a week, one hour each. And yoga is the same. one hour, two times every week. But, much more sweat in yoga than in weight exercises.

    Why?

    I guessed my muscle can be a cause of sweating. And I do some research, and my guess was right.

    Let’s begin with my recent InBody test report;

    Height: 173 cm(5.67 ft) Weight: 69.7 kg(153.6 lbs) Skeletal Muscle Mass: 32.6 kg(71.8 lbs) Percent Body Fat: 17.2 %

    A man doing yoga on the beach sidee.

    My body composition — having high SMM(32.6 kg) and low PBF(17.2%) — actually turns me into a highly efficient “heat-generator“ during yoga practice.

    I as in the range of “fit person” with low body fat percentages actually sweat sooner and more profusely than less-fit individuals. It’s the so-called “sweating paradox.”

    Sweating. It’s a science.

    In short, higher muscle mass, more sweat. And higher body fat, less sweat.

    And comparison of yoga and weight training with factors of time and muscle tension.

    In yoga, my muscles are in continuous isometric contraction. And almost no rest periods. It leads heat builds continuously. And, mostly holding still positions or moving slowly causes less air circulation around me. It does not allow my skin to cool me down.

    On the other hand, in weight training, there is rest time(30 seconds ~ 1 minutes) between the set/reps. My heat can dissipate during rest. And my skin can evaporate sweat efficiently with natural air circulation.

    Conclusion for me, kind of fit person:

    Sweet is natural and can not avoided.

    Just do yoga with drops of sweat.

  • Being the Only (and Oldest) guy in my yoga class; Why I Keep Going

    I’ve been doing yoga for nearly two years.

    About one year in the yoga studio near my office,

    and then in the yoga class of the resident fitness center.

    I was, and I’m still the only male among 20 to 30 yoga people.

    Some are in their 20s and 50s, but most are in their 30s to 40s, and I’m the oldest and only one in my 60s.

    The fitness center is for resident only of 2,700-unit apartment complex.

    Pretty good gym with separate yoga, and some group exercise spaces.

    A simple math, here.

    Multiply 2,700 households by 2.5 or 3 people per household.

    Total number of residents may be 6,700 to 8,100 people

    Roughly 7,400 on average.

    Then one male yogi out of 7,400.

    0.00013

    One in ten thousand.

    Reasonable?

    I wonder how it is around you.

    Only one yoga guy among 7,400

    If I do yoga only without doing other exercises regularly, I may not be able to objectively say the advantages and disadvantages of men’s yoga.

    However, I’m doing yoga together with muscle workouts (with weight exercise equipments) and calisthenics(pull-ups, dips, squats, etc.) regularly. So I can say from my personal experience what the benefits of men’s yoga are.

    I was the only yoga guy in the yoga class two years ago,

    I am still, and I’ll be for a considerable period of time to come. With a high probability.

    Nevertheless, I’ll will continue to do yoga as long as my musculoskeletal system allows.

    And I’d like to recommend yoga to men from my two years of yoga practicing.

    Especially for men after middle age.

    I strongly recommend that it’s worth trying.

    Give it a shot.